A surgical stapling device is a surgical instrument widely applied to surgical procedures, which has functions of both cutting and stapling tissues. As illustrated in FIG. 1A, the surgical stapling device typically includes a handle 100, a longitudinal portion 200, and an end-effector 300, wherein the handle 100 is configured to be grasped and operated by an operator for controlling and actuating the device; the distal portion of the handle 100 is connected with the end-effector 300 through the longitudinal portion 200 (in the description that follows, the term “proximal” refers to the portion of the device closer to the operator and the term “distal” refers to the portion of the device further from the operator); the end-effector 300 is configured to be actuated and controlled by the handle 100 so as to cut and suture tissues. The end-effector may be designed as articulated or non-articulated. As illustrated in FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, the articulating end-effector may comprise an anvil assembly 301 and a staple cartridge assembly 302, both of which may pivot around a pivotal axis 303 and be locked at an appropriate articulation angle.
The articulating end-effector is generally provided with a flexible drive member which may be bended along with pivotal movement of the anvil assembly and the staple cartridge assembly. As illustrated in FIG. 1C, the body of the flexible drive member 212 is formed through soldering multiple layers with each other; a proximal end 270 of the flexible drive member 212 is connected with a driving shaft (not shown), and a distal end 284 of the flexible drive member 212 is provided with a cutting surface 287, and a closure pin 286 together with a closure flange (not shown) adapted for closing the end-effector. In use, the end-effector is operated by the operator to articulate and open, so as to clamp tissues disposed between the anvil assembly and the staple cartridge assembly, and then a driving trigger is operated to force the driving shaft axially pushing the flexible drive member 212 to advance within the articulating end-effector; the closure pin 286 and the closure flange actuate the anvil portion and the staple cartridge portion of the end-effector to rotate towards each other for clamping the tissue, and subsequently the flexible drive member 212 drives a staple sled in the staple cartridge portion to further push a plurality of staple drivers, so that each of the staple driver further push each of staples out of the staple cartridge for firing, while the cutting surface 287 cuts the tissue clamped in the end-effector, to thereby accomplish cutting and stapling of the tissue.
Prior art may have problems, for example during assembling and using the flexible drive member, lack of solder at soldered joints is likely to occur between the layers, so that the layers may be warped and separated from one another, and the flexible drive member may fail to effectively transfer driving force due to its insufficient rigidity or may be permanently deformed and thus destroyed (that is when an elastomer is deformed under external force, it cannot return to its initial state even after the external force is released), which may hinder the driving stroke, and make it more difficult for a surgeon to operate; additionally, such a flexible drive member also may be complex to fabricate. The same problems occur in other similar surgical instruments having the flexible drive member.